First details of DiRT 3 spin out of gamescom. Now features snow, lots of sliding sideways

The Dirt series looks set to become even moreepic in 2011 thanks to a whole host of new features revealed for the next game in the rally-based racer. Dirt 3 will have snow effects, 50 year's worth of vehicles fromMini Coopers and Audi Quattros to souped-up Ford Fiestas,a revamped career mode andpromises to cram in 'more than double the tracks from Dirt 2 and three times the amount of rally-specific content'. And of course,Gymkhana, a spectacular display of car control that makes you involuntarily make 'woo' noises like this...

New drivers are being introduced to the serious rally side of things, so as well as Ken Block fronting the game again, British rally expert, Kris Meeke is also set to tear up the tracks of Dirt 3. We've got our fingers crossed for a full roster of drivers, but we'll have to wait and see what Codies come up with.

Above: If those leaf effects make it into the actual game then consider us wow-ed

Races will take placeinthe jungles of Kenya, forests of Europe and the US and also the snow-filled courses of Scandinavia. The icy effects of the snow sound like they're going to be ace with realistic snow compacting in different areas to really test your driving skills.

For old-skool fans of offline multiplayer, you'll be able to race against a mate (or an enemy?) in a split-screen stylee. And as seems to be the in vogue thing for racing games right now(see: Blur, Need For Speed Hot Pursuit) Dirt 3 will have social networking features integrated to no doubt boast to your friends about what times you've clocked recently.

Above: Glorious snow effects will make for some slippy excitement as you blast round the courses

What else? All this...

- Dynamic weather and day/night cycle
- Party mode for pass the pad, offline action
- Gymkhana events to chain together highscores and complete challenges
- 100+ routes compared to Dirt 2's, now measly, 41

We're already excited about Dirt 3 even though we've only seen atrailerandsome screens. We're desperate to get hands-onwith the gameso we can do a preview for you. We'll keep you posted.

August 19th 2010